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Activists in other states that have successfully beat back anti-reproductive rights laws have noticed a similar pattern: A legislator says something terrible and condescending; women use social media to stoke nationwide outrage about the comment; and the legislators, cowed by the unexpected attention, back down.

Yup. It’s got all your favorite hits including the asshole that compared women giving birth to livestock. There’s a few more too.

But antiabortion legislators are actually on the defensive against angry constituents for a change, which means they have to explain themselves. And that means they’re often getting themselves into trouble for being a little too honest about their misogyny, like the Alaska Republican state representative who said, “I thought that a man’s signature was required in order for a woman to have an abortion,” only then to see mockery of an “abortion permission slip” ricochet around the Internet. Or the Wisconsin senator who just said that all women who can’t afford contraception need to do is Google it.

“Every time a politician says something terrible, people respond emotionally to that,” says Luther. “It makes people in Florida care about what’s happening in Idaho.” It was harder, she adds, to get people fired up about Utah’s mandatory waiting period, maybe because there was no single tweetable moment.

A 27 year-old homeless woman who was arrested for trespassing at–of all things–a hospital later died in jail. If this isn’t a parable for our time, I don’t know what is. This is from Raw Story.

A woman who was suspect of abusing drugs and arrested for refusing to leave a hospital died of a blood clot shortly after being put in jail, according to St. Louis Today.

Anna Brown, a 29-year-old homeless African American woman, had gone to St. Mary’s Health Center in Richmond Heights, Missouri complaining of leg pain after spraining her ankle. Doctors performed an x-ray of her knees and an ultrasound, but detected no blood clots. She was given pain medication and discharged.

About eight hours later she returned to the hospital by ambulance complaining of abdominal pain. The hospital told her she had already been treated and discharged her again, but Brown refused to leave. When police officers arrived on another call, the hospital told them that Brown was claiming she “did not receive adequate medical attention and did not have to leave.”

The officers said they waited about three hours before a doctor told them Brown was healthy enough to be arrested.

Brown told the officers she could not stand, so they carried her by her arms and legs. Police suspected Brown was on drugs and left her laying [sic] in her cell on the ground.

About fifteen minutes later, a jail worker found her dead. An autopsy did not find any drugs in her system.

Yup. Nothing like being young, homeless and a woman that spells drug abuse and not to be taken seriously. Alternet has another cautionary tale that’s a bit more metaphorical. It’s about the Horrors of an Ayn Rand World.

In an Objectivist world, the reset button would be pushed on government services that we take for granted. They would not be cut back, not reduced — they would vanish. In an Objectivist world, roads would go unplowed in the snows of winter, and bridges would fall as the government withdrew from the business of maintaining them — unless some private citizen would find it in his rational self-interest to voluntarily take up the slack by scraping off the rust and replacing frayed cables. Public parks and land, from the tiniest vest-pocket patch of green to vast expanses of the West, would be sold off to the newly liberated megacorporations. Airplane traffic would be grounded unless a profit-making capitalist found it in his own selfish interests to fund the air traffic control system. If it could be made profitable, fine. If not, tough luck. The market had spoken. The Coast Guard would stay in port while storm- tossed mariners drown lustily as they did in days of yore. Fires would rage in the remnants of silent forests, vegetation and wildlife no longer protected by rangers and coercive environmental laws, swept clean of timber, their streams polluted in a rational, self-interested manner by bold, imaginative entrepreneurs.

Bloomberg reported this week that some federally contracted debt collection agencies have been playing hardball with borrowers who are behind, insisting on payments the borrowers can’t afford — even when federal student-loan rules allow more leniency.

The debt collectors have an incentive to be tough. As Bloomberg explains:

Under Education Department contracts, collection companies “rehabilitate” a defaulted loan by getting a borrower to make nine payments in 10 months. If they succeed, they reap a jackpot: a commission equal to as much as 16 percent of the entire loan amount, or $3,200 on a $20,000 loan.

These companies receive that fee only if borrowers make a minimum payment of 0.75 percent to 1.25 percent of the loan each month, depending on its size. For example, a $20,000 loan would require payments of about $200 a month. If the payment falls below that figure, the collector receives an administrative fee of $150.

Striking that balance, it seems, hasn’t been easy. Consumer advocates chafed when President Obama, as part of a deficit-reduction plan promoted last fall, recommended allowing debt collectors to robo-call the cell phones of borrowers who fell behind on federal student loans and other debts to the government.

I’m trying to get mine consolidated over to the Department of Education.

One last story that just won’t go away. The Guardian reports that Apple factories in China are still unhealthy and ignoring labor laws. Enjoy those Ipads and Ipods!

In the most detailed public investigation yet into conditions at Foxconn factories in China, which assemble millions of iPhones and iPads each year, the independent Fair Labor Association found that more than half of employees had worked 11 days or more without rest.

More than 43% of workers reported experiencing or witnessing an accident at the three plants audited. Foxconn is China’s largest private-sector employer, and its activities have turned the coastal town of Shenzhen into the electronics workshop of the world.

Health and safety breaches found by auditors and published on Thursday included blocked exits, lack of or faulty personal protective equipment and missing permits, which the FLA said was remedied when discovered.

Despite several suicides, which raised the alarm two years ago, and an explosion that killed three workers last year, Foxconn still failed to consult workers on safety, with the committees “failing to monitor conditions in a robust manner”, the report found.

So, that’s what I’ve got for you this morning. What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

64 Comments on “Friday Reads”

Senate Democratic women for the second time this session walked out after HB 954 passed their chamber. Sporting yellow police tape, they marched into the hallways and, joined with other HB 954 opponents, shouted “we will remember!” loud enough to be heard through closed doors. “The GOP war on women is alive and well in Georgia,” said Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta. Within the hour, the bill passed the House on a 106-59 vote. Democrats turned their backs on McKillip in protest.

Commonly referred to as a “fetal pain” bill, House Bill 954 would tighten medical exemptions for terminating pregnancies and require any abortion performed after 20 weeks of pregnancy be done in a way to bring the fetus out alive. No exemption is made for rape or incest. The measure says that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks, therefore the state has an interest in protecting it.

Supporters of the new Georgia bill said it would save lives and protect more fetuses.

Opponents said the bill would legislate decisions that should be made by doctors and would put doctors at risk who work with difficult pregnancies. Doctors who are involved in abortions after 20 weeks that do not meet the bill’s restrictions could be charged with a felony and face up to 10 years in prison.

Yup, protect the fetuses and fuck the women…I mean who cares about female former fetuses anyway?

Dak, your Dr. Daughter might as well cross Georgia off her list of places to practice, geez, what state is left that doesn’t make being a doctor a crime?

Oh, wait a minute, the PLUBs are selective when it comes to the medical doctors. They are criminals when they perform certain legal procedures, yet they are protected saints if they lie and withhold health information from their female patients.

What is wrong with these people? These insane policies make no sense whatsoever.

Forcing a woman to give birth under any circumstances is repulsive. Add to that the cuts in social services which were designed to assist in the raising of that child and you have disaster waiting to happen on such a scale that the cost cannot be measured.

Rational politicians have all but disappeared in many places with this “war on women”.

It is astounding that these policies are sweeping many legislatures with the alacrity they have in the last several years.

Difficult to see who gains in any of this but what is transpiring is criminal in its scope. This is what happens when theocratical thinking is allowed to flourish through toleration.

I tell ya, I know some people thought of us as Ole Knitter Bitters, but we were sounding the alarm before the War On Women started:

“I thought that a man’s signature was required in order for a woman to have an abortion,”

Oh, they yearn for the days when they could lock us up by saying we were not well, simply because we wanted to be treated as human beings. The above quote should alarm every woman, young, middle aged or senior…some still think WE ARE PROPERTY!.

It gives me hope when I see this young lady do some honest talk about the status of women:Beyonce- Run the World (LIES)

We have to encourage more young women to speak up and to be aware, as if one of us is shackled, none of us is free!

I know, right? What the hell is that all about, and who is going to pay for it? Do they force the women into some kind of subsidized slavery to work off the expense of the medical care to bring these fetuses out alive?

I saw the story about the woman who died in the jail cell, Ralph posted a link on it last night…I would call it unbelievable that a hospital would be so negligent to have this woman arrested for trespassing, but in this god awful climate of GOP hate and their utter lack of human sympathy…I am surprised this hasn’t become the normal way of providing medical treatment for the homeless.

And that article about Ayn Rand, I have a friend who started dating this guy she said referred to himself a “Randian man.” Two years later and she is constantly being hurt, in the emotional human relationship way, by his selfishness…seems to me that would be the top characteristic of “Randian men.”

I hope alot of people lose their jobs over the death of this homeless black lade…………especially those in the video’s…………….including the county and city, and the hospital adminstrators…………sue them and fire them all.

I read this Morning that the author of the Infamous GOP budget plan, Paul “Eddie Munster” Ryan, is endorsing Mitt, and of course we all know that Mitt, in his infinite quest to set to contort himself into whatever shape he can in order to kiss the ass of the most extreme in his party, is endorsing the Paul “Eddie Munster” Ryan, Budget Plan. Surprised?

The GOP/TP is making successful runs at Roe and reproductive freedom in the State Legislators and now they’re poised to make a run at SS, Medicare and Medicaid through the Federal Budget. All they need now is a few more Senators and a dupe like Romney in the oval office to sign their BS plan and we’re all screwed, well everyone I know is screwed. There are some folks who won’t be screwed, but they don’t frequent my neighborhood.

And of course the GOP’s overwhelming concern for the middle class & poor was on full display yesterday as they blocked a vote in the Senate (using cloture) to end subsidies to big OIL & GAS companies. The religious right? The moral majority? Not really!!!

It boggles the mind to think of any rational human wanting to cast a vote for the GOP. They are determined to take away every program fought for as an assistance over the past 5 decades while cheering and championing the rich beyond reason.

How does attacking Planned Parenthood help? Or Social Security which keeps most seniors from the Poor House? Or reducing education funds at a time when global competition is on the rise?

Name a social program and they have it in their sights to dismantle, defund, or destroy.

For those who are rushing to the GOP owing more to their visceral hatred of Obama is just stupidity since the last “message” sent out in 2010 brought us crazy Tea Party winners whose sole purpose is to deny, deny, deny.

These people are crazy and stupid. A sorry combination that does us no good as a nation.

I just can’t believe that all the issues that were settled in the 30’s, the 60’s and the 70’s have now been resurrected by the TP/GOP. Obviously, this is about more than attempting to create a theocracy that can once again dictate what is and what isn’t a woman’s rights, or who can and who cannot marry. It’s about transferring wealth UP to the very people who just took our country down. Privatization of SS & Medicare, destroying & defunding social safety net program and education while subsidizing Big Oil & Gas and continuing with special tax breaks to the Biggest, most prosperous Corporations on the globe? What is the end game? Feudalism, here we come!!! 🙂

Yes, to return to the good Ole days when the elite had all the money and ruled over the masses, much as kings did… (head deak) argh! I often wonder why many who are the 99% vote for people who only care about the 1% and use them to fight their wars.

Some of the blogs are desperately seeking a valid reason to vote Romney. Hilarious!

One of the most boring, lackluster, non visionary, corporate loving morons to ever emerge as a candidate for POTUS is being actively considered as a viable replacement to President Indifferent.

Trying to keep track of his repeated flip flops is as useless as trying to find one sensible comment ever garbled by Palin.

He stands for nothing. He represents the overall greed that has caused this nation to fall on its face. A phony baloney with no core principles that would drive a reasonable person to offer support other than to vindicate the hatred of Obama, he is the “empty suit” of all time.

This is not a defense of Obama by any means but an up close look at the alternative. Bleak.

I was thinking the same thing, but I believe it is due to liberals not discussing the issues or sharing their thoughts. I do believe it takes a village, those that don’t either think they are royalty (1% in US) or think they will be in good with the dictators…they will get me last type of thinking! 😯

Pat, I’ve read your comments long enough to know you’re not defending Obama. You’re so repulsed by the policy positions and theocratic overtones from the alternative, combined with the hatred that is driving the policy decisions of the alternative, that you’re outraged. I’m outraged too.

Last election I cast a PUMA vote in a redstate that went to McCain by over 20% points, but I voted straight Dem down ticket. I can pass on the top of the ticket this election because Romney/Whoever will win my State by an overwhelming margin, but I will cast straight Dem down-ticket votes. If my State was in play, I’d be tortured right now, I’d likely stroke out on election day over the dilemma.

The only time you will see me defend Obama is against the attacks against him that are enveloped in racism.

It’s there, it exists, it is palpable. HIs policies are open to argument, particularly from those of us who saw through the hype in 2008 but aside from that, there has been a concerted effort to portray him as a nefarious “pretender” based on the color of his skin.

At a time of his election when the nation was hanging on the ropes, a campaign of “No” was initiated, nothing got done, hatred was celebrated, and a determined effort was made to emasculate his presidency.

Has he disappointed me? Absolutely. But what is being offered as an alternative is dangerous. Is he capable of standing up under the pressure? Not sure. But handing the keys over to the GOP is enough to strike fear into the hearts of those of us who passionately believe in the separation of church and state and a fair shake for the majority who will be expected to live under this fake democracy they are pushing.

I may not be an Obama cheerleader but I sure as hell have enough wits left to appreciate that the GOP is not a friend to democracy or the principles I hold dear.

I really thought a lot of the worst of racism and sexism was behind us. Boy was I wrong! I am still hoping my daughters’ generation gets beyond this. It seems all that hatred has landed in the republican base. Good thing their demographics point to eventual extinction.

“The only time you will see me defend Obama is against the attacks against him that are enveloped in racism.”

I see it too and I find it stunning that so many other people do not see it and that they excuse it or dismiss it or fail to define it. The black secret muslim, the constant framing of him as the other, the enemy from within, the anti-christian, the anti-american, the ex-cia spy, the questions concerning his education credentials, the no birth certificate (I don’t know what you have to show to prove you were born in the U.S. that would satisfy this group of nutcases) all of this madness is about his race.

I don’t think the questions we, as Hillary supporters, faced about him in 2008 were about his race, at least not for the majority of us. We didn’t know him and many of us wanted to know if the Breitbart rumor gin-mill (which we didn’t know the source of at the time. What spectacular ratfucking they accomplished) was real or bogus. Some of it was real, most of it was bogus. But it was very confusing.

Don’t misunderstand, I don’t see him as a great or transformative POTUS (that is subject to change, since events are constantly unfolding that alter my opinion), but today I see him as a place holder. I think he’s very smart, but basically lackluster, not courageous in conviction, or perhaps I misread that, perhaps he doesn’t have much conviction to be courageous about. I think he’s a good father.. He’s definitely not a liberal. OH for SPUHC!!!. We wouldn’t be having this mandate issue before SCOTUS if we had SPUHC. I gave up long ago on electing a liberal POTUS. But I do agree with you concerning SCOTUS. I’ve wondered many times what this court would look like if McCain had won. Kind of makes me sick just to think about it.

And as you know me, Mouse, as a parent of a gay child that I cherish with all my heart, I am not about to support any party or any candidate who defines my child as demonic, an abomination, or any other miserable perjoratives they come up with.

My fierce determination to uphold feminism also puts me at odds with these creatures who would harness us into subjugation. What they are doing is so wrong from every angle that it defies meaning.

“And as you know me, Mouse, as a parent of a gay child that I cherish with all my heart, I am not about to support any party or any candidate who defines my child as demonic, an abomination, or any other miserable perjoratives they come up with.”

I know Pat, your fearless advocacy for your child is one of the things I love about your commentary. As an old gay woman, I appreciate the importance of the advocacy of family and friends. It’s importance to your child, no matter how old he is, cannot be underestimated.

I have/had a close family member, who is a devout catholic, tell me that they voted for Rick Santorum in our State GOP primary, it ripped my heart out because it either never occurred to them, or they simply didn’t care that a vote for Santorum was a vote against my partner and I who have been together for nearly 30 years.

I made up my mind about how I am going to vote in the GE after watching what seemed like endless GOP debates. It really doesn’t matter to me what anyone else thinks about the way I vote. Isn’t that how it should be in this country? So, someone disagrees with me – a family member, a friend, a neighbor, a blogger? Why should I care? It is my vote. I own it.

This is 2012, not 2008. We face a different reality now. I hope everyone will follow their conscience and do what they believe is right, whatever that may be, in the up-coming presidential election. Hold on to what little power you still have – the power to think for yourself.

I agree with that Dak! We need to win the House back and find a way to protect our slim majority in the Senate. We actually need to get to 60 in the Senate to stop the GOP/TP’s obstruction using cloture, once and for all. We also need to find a way to redirect the blue-dog Dems so they quit voting with Conservatives on social issues like, choice, gay rights, etc. It may be easier to get rid of the TP repubs at the ballot box than the blue-dog Dems.

From 2007 to 2009, I traveled 27,000 miles, living in predominantly white gated communities across this country to research a book. I threw myself into these communities with gusto — no Howard Johnson or Motel 6 for me. I borrowed or rented residents’ homes. From the red-rock canyons of southern Utah to the Waffle-House-pocked exurbs of north Georgia, I lived in gated communities as a black man, with a youthful style and face, to interview and observe residents.

I wish there was more coverage being given to congressional races than just when Newt decides to pull the plug or the latest effort by Rick to “sanctify” the country.

The most important “message” in November is overturning those seats currently being held hostage by the Tea Partiers and the intransient Repubs who refuse to discuss the real issues facing us.

Here in MA I am supporting Warren over that idiot Scott Brown who has done nothing for women since he was sworn in.

Each day the polls shift here but as the election comes closer I am hoping to see her surge not just because she is female but because she reflects my views.

The one thing about voting for Obama is the SC appointments. Judging by what is currently “doing duty” on behalf of the GOP in that role we don’t need anymore of the likes of Scalia and Thomas to render opinions that are nothing but knee jerk responses to party partisanship.

Regardless of how you feel about abortion, the way Todd Stave flipped the script on his bullies is pretty dang clever.
[…]
But his tormentors crossed the line last fall when a big group showed up at his daughter’s middle school on the first day of classes and again at back-to-school night. They had signs displaying his name and contact information as well as those gory images of the fetuses.
[…]
Soon after that, the harassing calls started coming to his home. By the dozens, at all hours. Friends asked him how they could help. He began to take down the names and phone numbers of people who made unwanted calls. And he gave the information to his friends and asked them to call these folks back.
[…]
This started with a dozen or so friends, and then it grew. Soon, more than a thousand volunteers were dialing.

If they could find the information, Stave’s supporters would ask during the callbacks how the children in the family were doing and mention their names and the names of their schools. “And then,” Stave said, “we’d tell them that we bless their home on such and such street,” giving the address.

The family of a protester who called Stave’s home could get up to 5,000 calls in return.

Wow. That’s great. Harassment by the Fetus Fetishists is horrible. I got them when I ran for office. They’re some scary people. Glad to see the tables turned like this so they know how it feels. I got the ones that talked about my children and it scared literally scared the jaysus out of me. I’m not buying anything they have to sell any more.

Ralph, honest to god, you and I seem to always be on the same wavelength!

I just ordered “Drift” for my Kindle!

I ran into Rachel a few years ago in Northampton, MA (she has a home in Cummington, MA) at an outdoor event. She is very pretty and about 5’4 in height which surprised me since I thought she was taller.

She is a really smart person and says a lot in few words, which is a real gift. I am going to order the book today. I’ve read some segments of it online at maddowblog. Been trying to decide between Kindle version and hard back. Guess I’ll go with Kindle.

She was on Martin Brashear this morning talking about the book. She mentioned that Mitt Romney confuses an Afghani with an Afghan. One’s the currency the other is the people. He’s like Bush who didn’t know there were shia and sunni muslims. She’s going to cover Romney’s foreign policy ignorance tonight on her show.

Could be but these days there are a lot of hoaxsters out there. Where is this tape from? Does Santorum strike anyone as the type who uses that word so regularly he’d almost say it out loud in public? Could he have meant negative or renege or another word?

I can’t recall, but after his affair, his church was having some issues (NO chit…preaching from a broken soap box) and I don’t know if it is still going as an entity by itself or if he has a financial stake in it. And no he doesn’t recognize the pope. Interesting, he was born in the US.

Just when you think it is safe to go into the water, out she marches to deliver another idiotic, senseless, stupid response that defies logic.

And her district keeps sending her back to DC to spread her chuckle headed brain cells all over the nation.

It’s when you attempt to contrast a Rachel Maddow v Michele Bachmann that you can readily see the dangers that lie ahead in the law making capabilities that have fallen into the hands of dimwits like Bachmann.

Two reports today about Iran’s nuclear program and the possibility of an Israeli military strike have analysts in Israel accusing the Obama administration leaking information to pressure Israel not to bomb Iran and for Iran to reach a compromise in upcoming nuclear talks.

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